The present invention is directed to a particular kind of dispersed system that can be described as a collection of particles immersed in a liquid. The particles can be either solid (suspension) or liquid (emulsions). This kind of dispersed system plays an important role in all kind of paints, lattices, food products, cements, minerals, ceramics, blood etc.
These systems have a common feature. They all have a very high surface area because of the small particle size. Therefore surface related phenomena determine their behavior in various processes. This patent deals with dispersed systems where these surface effects are dominant, corresponding to a range of particle size up to about 10 microns.
Characterization of suspensions and emulsions is important for the manufacture as well as the design of new systems with improved properties. There are two basic notions for characterizing these dispersed systems: "particle size distribution" and "zeta potential". There are several methods for determining these characteristics. Most methods are based on light, for example: microelectrophoresis; light scattering; light diffraction; etc. There is a new alternative method based on ultrasound which is rapidly becoming important. The ultrasound method has a large advantage over traditional light based techniques because it is able to characterize a concentrated systems without dilution. Light based methods usually require extreme dilution in order to make the sample sufficiently transparent for measurement.
The present invention is directed to an improved device and method of using the ultrasound characterization technique.